Re: Cracks in gelcoat
I had some hairline cracks appear in the floor between the consoles in my 2004 Scout. Even though there is no wood in the structure of my boat I hated the idea of water slowly seeping into the deck core. Plus I damn sure hated the sight of em! I posted pretty much your question and got various responses but mostly advice not to worry about it too much and that gel coat cracks happen on a lot of boats. Point taken but I wanted to investigate a bit further.
I first thought of repairing it myself and after a little research concluded that it would be beyond me to reproduce a factory fresh deck. Not only were some of the cracks running into the nonskid, but after reading about how you need to sand the crack into a groove, then fill with a colour matched gelcoat (my deck is a bizarre off-white kind of colour), then feather it nicely into the surrounding deck, I figured I would muck it up and decided to start by at least getting a quote.
I was blown away at the expense -- almost two grand to fix about ten small cracks, none of them more than an inch long. To my marina's credit, they took a look at the job and -- without me even asking -- immediately called Scout in North Carolina and sent them some photos. Both the marina and Scout were concerned that one of their boats would exhibit such cracks and even though Scout was not offering a warranty on gel coat crazing at the time my boat was built (I believe they now do), they said they'd pick up at least half the cost. They even sent up some specially mixed gelcoat in my deck colour.
Final cost to me was $900 -- still way more than I'd want to pay for something like that but I don't begrudge the guy his money. The job was about perfect and I'm sure took ages. (Also, I'd buy another Scout in a flash with that kind of factory support to a second owner in another country. Both Scout and their dealer in my area -- Payne Marine in Point au Baril, are truly outstanding in my mind).
If you don't relish the idea of either paying that kind of money or digging up your deck you might try drilling very small holes at either end of the deck cracks (to keep them from speading) then put a thin line of sealer (what kind, I'm not sure) down on top. It won't be invisible but it might reduce the chances of moisture getting into your deck -- which is the most important thing when all is said and done.
